Well, good morning, everybody. Thank you for coming to the house of God this morning. Even though I am the visitor, it's still the right place to be is at the house of God. Let's go ahead and take our Bibles, please, and turn to John chapter 12, please. We're just going to be looking at one verse, but our main text is going to be in another verse in just a couple of minutes. But John chapter 12, and we're looking at verses number one, please. Let's get it all to stand, please. John 12, verse one. It says, Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which he had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. Let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer one more time, please. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the day you've given us. Thank you for letting us gather into your house this morning. Please speak to each and every one of us the way you only can speak to each and every one of us. Please speak to the listeners and have them hear what you want them to hear. Please work through me that you want me to speak what you want me to speak. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. But way before the message I am, my name is James Snotterly. My wife is Katie Snotterly. She's on the third chair on my right. So we are from Vacaville, and that's where we are from, from Lighthouse Baptist Church. I'm the assistant pastor there. But today I'm honored to be here, and thank you for having us. But we've been there for 10 years, but before that, my father was an evangelist for 19 years, and most of that time, we were on the road with him. We traveled in a 32-foot trailer for most of my growing up years. I have four siblings, and that trailer got awfully small very fast, as you can probably imagine. But One afternoon, even before my father stepped into evangelism, I was a good kid. My father pastored years ago, but in transition of pastoring and what should he do at this point, we were at our home church back in Tennessee, and one Sunday afternoon, I came to him, I said, Dad, I don't know if I'm saved or not. He goes, you know, we sat down on the edge of their bed and we talked for quite a while. After we talked and he, you know, I knew the plan of salvation from backwards and forwards. Start me in the middle, I could go whatever way you want me to go to. But that afternoon, he goes, James, what do you want to do? Do you want to get saved or not? So as an 11-year-old boy, I looked at Dad, I said, Dad, I wanna get saved. And I wanna say, thank God my life hasn't been the same since. From the outwards looking, I was a good kid. I was toting the Bible. I was in church sometimes multiple times a week. Seriously, I was in church quite often. I was dressed right. I didn't say any of the bad words. I didn't stink in any other way, but I was still a lost, hell-bound sinner, and if I would have died, I would have split hell wide open. just because looks can be deceiving. Don't judge a book by its cover, because if you would have judged me, you would have found out I would have been to hell a split second after I died. But thank God he came down and saved me. So ever since then, we've been striving to serve Jesus. So in this chapter, chapter 12 of John, Jesus is having a lunch or supper with Martha and Lazarus. Martha came over and was anointing Jesus' feet with a special ointment, which at that time was very costly, and she anointed Jesus' feet, and people were mad at her, saying, why are you doing this? One person even said that money could have been sold and given to help feed the poor. Jesus said, the poor you have, basically you have the poor with you at all times, but she's worshiping me. And then after that we see that Jesus is being worshiped by multiple people the next day. People are throwing palm branches out. People are worshiping him. And as they're worshiping him, some guys came up to some of his disciples and said, in verse 22, I'm sorry, verse 21, it says, the same came therefore to Philip, which was a Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. How many of us desire to see Jesus today? How many of us actually have that deep longing for to see Jesus? I heard a story of a pastor. He grew up on the belief of the Pacific, right outside of the Pacific Ocean. He saw it every day. But as a teenager, his family moved away. He became friends with another young man. And the other young man said, I want to go see the Pacific Ocean. I've never seen it before in my whole life. I want to do it. You know, I think it'd be fun. So when they became of age and saved some money, they went out and drove to see the Pacific Ocean. So, you know, the man that has seen it, he knew what to expect. He knew what it looked like. But the young man that had never seen the Pacific, they rounded the corner and there it was. You know, in all of its Pacific glory, the young man sat there, all he did was he looked at it for several minutes and went, huh, the Pacific is a lot smaller than what I had imagined it to be. He's only looking at it from the little spot of it. That's how I think we look at Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a lot bigger than what we give him credit for. When we look at Jesus, He is our Redeemer. He is our shepherd. He is not just a good man, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is not just a prophet, but He is the prophet. He's not just one of many gods, He is the God. And He has the power that nobody else can match. Thank God He does. He can heal the sick, He can raise the dead, He can make lame people wise and walk again. But He also can look at us and have the heart. Just like when Lazarus was dead, remember when he walked up to the tomb where Lazarus was. It says, Jesus wept. He also has the heart of compassion. that nobody else has. You know, us humans say we understand what you're going through, and I think honestly we know, we strive to know what they're going through, and maybe we do. But nobody cares for us like Jesus. Nobody cares for us. So how do we see Jesus today? Do we see Jesus like Isaiah, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple? Or do we see Jesus as just, as we hear the phrase, the man upstairs? Which, believe me, I hate saying that phrase. I hate hearing that phrase. But that's how I think people look at him, as just the man upstairs. He is more than just a man upstairs. He is our Redeemer. Wait, let me rephrase that. He is my Redeemer. And if you're saved and on your way to heaven, you can say He is your Redeemer. Psalms 23 says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. That's who Jesus is, do you hear me? How do we see Jesus today? High and lifted up? Or do we see him as just a typical, like I said, somebody else? We shouldn't see Jesus for just somebody else. We should see him for a high and lifted up. Let's go ahead and turn to Isaiah chapter six, please. I mentioned it just a second ago. Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah had, what I'm going to say, a revelation. In verse 1 it says, In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. With train He covered His face, and with train He covered His feet, and with train He did fly, and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with the smoke. Then said I, after Isaiah saw what he saw, verses 1 through 4, verses 5 is what Isaiah thinks of himself. It says, then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isaiah took a real look at who Jesus Christ really is. He saw Jesus, if you notice in verse 1, Verse one, it says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon his throne. So something earthly in his life had to be removed. You see, in order to see Jesus for who he really is, only Jesus can rule your whole life. You know, so we can say that Jesus is my King, Jesus is my God, whatever we want to say, But if we have a bunch of other little things on the shelf with Jesus, how good is that? We're gonna have to wipe off the whole shelf and only have Jesus up there as the King of our life. Once Isaiah saw Jesus for who he really is, verse five comes along, and now we saw what Isaiah thinks of himself. He was just a poor nobody. Verses eight comes along, just like it should be. It says, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and whom will go forth? I love these next few words. Then said I, here am I, send me. I can see Jesus stepping up, maybe, I don't know, maybe in a big crowd of 100,000 people, saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And I can even see in my imagination, Isaiah, even before the words came off of Jesus' lips, Isaiah was saying, here am I, send me, send me, I'll go. I'll be happy to go where you want me to go. And I'll be happy to go when you want me to go. If you read verse number eight, Jesus didn't say where he wanted Isaiah to go. He just said, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Isaiah said, here am I, send me. Isaiah wrote a check, signed it, and gave it to God and said, where you want me to go, when you want me to go, and for how long you want me to go, I'll be happy to do it. Once we see Jesus for who he really is, we'll see ourselves for who we really are. And I'll think, honestly, I think we'll be like, look, I'll be happy to go wherever Jesus wants us to go. I'll be happy to serve in a foreign land, I'll be happy to serve in my homeland, but I'll be willing to go wherever and however. I've heard my dad when he was in Bible college said he remembers a elderly lady coming through seeking for support. She says, my husband died. They were on the mission field, I believe in Brazil. Her husband died and she said, you know, God, I'm an old lady now. Can I go home and basically live out my last days at home with my kids and grandkids? She said, I felt like God saying, no, you still have life in you. I want you to be a missionary. She said, not just a missionary where I am in Brazil, but God was calling me to a different section of the world to be a missionary. So that means she's having to pick up her new language, new everything. because you wrote God a blank check and said, wherever you want me to go, I'll be happy to go. And that's how Isaiah is. How are we today? You know what, it doesn't matter that our age, it be us young, old, rich or poor, good looking or not so good looking, God just wants us to serve him. How are we today looking at Jesus? Do we see Jesus with wandering eyes like, wow, Jesus is the best thing that's ever happened to me? Or do we see Jesus as, nah, he's a good God, he's a great king, he's a good provider, but eh, I could take him or leave him. Hopefully we see Jesus for who he really is. How are we looking at him today? On good days, Jesus is still worth serving. Can I get an amen with that? Jesus is worth serving on a bad day. Jesus is worth serving on a great day. And probably like most of us, we're looking at our banking accounts and find that we have next to no money in our banking accounts. Jesus is still worth serving on that kind of a day. But my mortgage is coming due, I don't have enough money for my mortgage. Jesus is still worth serving on those days. On those kind of days, what do we glory in? And if you're like people I've seen and probably I've been one of them, What, you know, it bothers me, I don't have enough money in the bank or just whatever bothers me, it just weighs on me. Galatians chapter six and verse 14 says, but God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. So on a bad day we go, what do I glory in? and things couldn't get worse, any worse than it already is, we can still glory in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ is the one that saved us. You've heard the story, and it's true that Jesus came down some 2,000 years ago as a baby, born of a virgin lady named Mary, spent 33 and a half years and was falsely accused, and they spat on him, they hit him with their hands. You know, Jesus was put in front of kings, and they were trying to save him, but the people were wanting Jesus dead. So that day, Pilate said, I washed my hands of this innocent man, do unto him as you will, basically, and they said crucify him. So that day, Jesus was crucified for a crime he didn't do. Why did he submit himself to something that he did not do? Well, the answer is pretty simple. It's because he loved us. John 3.16 says, So Jesus gave himself for mankind. You know, right now America's trying to be divided with ethnic groups. is maybe better than, one's better than the other. I'm here to say that Jesus is here to save all ethnic groups. He's here to say if I don't know your language, if I don't know how you think, Jesus knows how you think. Jesus can speak only the language that you can speak. But first we have to look at him. First we have to look at him, look full in his wonderful face. First we have to see Jesus for who he is, and then we'll see for ourselves for who we really are. You've probably seen people out there that think that they're better than we are. I'm here to say that they put on their t-shirts just like how I put on my t-shirts, and if that's the truth and it is, Jesus can save them. but they're being a jerk to me. I don't like how they're treating me. Jesus still loves them. They're being ungodly, I can't stand being around them. That is okay, Jesus still loves them. Jesus wants them in heaven. In the world that we live in, with the economy as it is, spending right at $5 a gallon for gas, You know, and then we have the utilities, then we have to eat, then we have the mortgage. Where do we have time? You know, we have to work extra hours just to maintain a proper life, just to live. But don't let our proper life blur the vision of Jesus. I work six days a week, somewhere between for somewhere between 50 to 60 hours a week, almost every week. But I shouldn't let that blow my vision of Jesus Christ. I shouldn't wake up and go, I'm just too tired, I'm not gonna read my Bible today. I should wake up and go, I am extremely tired, yes, but I still need to read my Bible. However you read your Bible, you need to read it. Be it when you get home at night, be it a chapter in the morning and then the rest of it at night. However you do it, you need to refocus your vision on Jesus Christ. Because the rest of this world will fade away when we start looking at Jesus Christ. Nahum 1.7 says, The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. Thank the Lord he knows us when we trust in him. So on a bad day, he's still a great Savior. Isaiah saw Jesus high and lifted up. Thomas felt Jesus. Remember when Jesus came through the wall and Thomas said, I don't believe Jesus unless I put my hands in his side and my fingers in his hands. I'm not gonna believe Jesus is alive. So Jesus showed himself to Thomas and Thomas believed. Elijah heard God in a still, small voice. And the day and age we live in, we look at it and go, it's noisy. And I agree with that. We have our phones, we have the radio, we have the TV. We live semi-close to the freeway. I can step outside of my front door and hear the freeway half a mile away from us. I kind of like that noise. I know it sounds funny, but I kind of enjoy the freeway noise. You know, I can hear the kids outside on the road playing. I can hear the music around my neighborhood playing. But we still can hear Jesus in a still, small voice. You know, how many of us can look at Jesus today and go, I've lost my vision. I've lost my vision. Yes, I'm still looking at Jesus, but I'm not seeing Jesus, if that makes sense. You know, we put something in the kitchen of our house, and I know my wife Katie can do it, and a month later she takes it away, and sometimes that might take me a little bit to notice, like that ornament on the table is gone. When did you move that ornament? I moved it three days ago. I'll be like, what? You moved it three days ago? It becomes so repetitive that it's there, you don't even look at it. Don't let our everyday life become repetitive by looking at Jesus. Let your everyday life look at Jesus afresh every day. One last thing, remember, Years ago, when my dad and mom was telling evangelism that they said, look, James, you can live in the house that we had in Tennessee, but you pay for the utilities. You use them, you pay for it. And so that was the deal. So I was like, okay, well, you know, I'm okay with that. So one month I worked extremely hard you know, turn off the lights, you know, turn off the water, you know, all this extra stuff, so my utilities were very small. So I got the bill, my electric bill was $90. I was like, man, this is pretty good. I'm very excited about this. So my mom flew in, I forget why, she flew in for a few days, and unbeknownst to me, Mom and dad agreed that they wanted to pay my electric bill. And so I walked into the utility company and said, hey, I'm here to pay for it. And they're like, it's already paid for. I was like, what? I worked the whole month, month and a half, whatever, to get this cheap utility bill and it's already paid for. They're like, yeah, somebody else already paid for it. I was like, well, it was a bittersweet ordeal. I was glad that I didn't have to pay for it, but all that work and I didn't even get to pay for it. But don't let our hard work in life sidetrack us on what we're doing. Don't let our life get in the way of Jesus Christ. And if you feel like that God, if you're like me, there are times that life is bigger than God himself. And maybe I shouldn't say that, but sometimes it feels like that. And I know it's not, I know Jesus Christ is bigger than life itself, and I get that. But there are days I'm down, I'm thinking, you know, I can't get stuff off my head. But there is a song out there that's blessed me. It says, bigger than all my problems, bigger than anything, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or I cannot see. Bigger than any questions, bigger than anything, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see. So today, my question is, how is your focus on Jesus Christ? Pilate saw Jesus Christ for who he was and walked away from him. He washed his hands of him. The Pharisees saw Jesus and they hated Jesus' guts. They said, crucify Jesus. And they crucified him. But how do you see him today? Do you see him like an Isaiah, high and lifted up? Or do you just see him as some man next door that you barely even talk to. I hope and I pray that you see Jesus for a high and lifted up, and I hope you see Jesus is trained filling the temple like Isaiah, because I really hope your day will get better once you see Jesus for who he really is. Let's have every head bowed and every eye closed, please,